Creating Shortcuts in GP

[Ryno]

Good Morning All,
I would just like a bit of information really. I have just recreated an OU in group policy for staff and students. I am trying to use User Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Shortcuts to create the shortcuts on the start menu so that I can use item targeting. Now I have created all the shortcuts but they don’t seem to be appearing on the start menu. Can anyone please give me some information on this?
Thank You in advance.

[oaleksejuk-concerouk]

i would avoid item targeting for this and seperate the staff and student start menu in their own GPO's

for example we have seperate gpo's for students and staff

firstly create a folder for environments that appropriate people can access so you would have:

students
staff

go to:
user configuration
policies
windows settings
folder redirection
startmenu

you then want to select the folders that you just created so for appropriate users

then add shortcuts to these folders.

make sure the environments are shared so the students and staff can access!

[Ryno]

Thank You for that.

That is how i had it set up but i am having a few problems.

The reason for these problems is because on Windows 7 it has C:\Program files (x86) and C:\Program files.

This means all shortcuts will work on xp but when it comes to windows 7 the programs will be in different places.

Is there away around this?

[oaleksejuk-concerouk]

Thank You for that.

That is how i had it set up but i am having a few problems.

The reason for these problems is because on Windows 7 it has C:\Program files (x86) and C:\Program files.

This means all shortcuts will work on xp but when it comes to windows 7 the programs will be in different places.

Is there away around this?

Ah I see what you mean, I take it you're running 64bit then?

If you go to the properties on group policy and then to settings there is a tick box to enable this for 2000 and XP

Try ticking that and doing a gpupdate

[Ryno]

I have tried this it is still not working

Its definitely because of the shortcut is pointing to C:\Program files (x86) so this will only open on windows 7 and not xp!

Is there anyway at all you can make it open in both xp and win 7? its also my desktop icons that are folder redirected in the same way.

[sted]

Thank You for that.

That is how i had it set up but i am having a few problems.

The reason for these problems is because on Windows 7 it has C:\Program files (x86) and C:\Program files.

This means all shortcuts will work on xp but when it comes to windows 7 the programs will be in different places.

Is there away around this?

if the shortcut already exists on teh pcs own start menu (so c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\something\something.lnk just copy it from there rather than creating a new shortcut as that shortcut on that pc will always be right (touch wood) just set the policy to always replace existing files wherever youre redirecting your start menu to

or

set gpp to create shortcut to program files (x86) if os =x64 with targetting

[Ryno]

if the shortcut already exists on teh pcs own start menu (so c:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\Start Menu\something\something.lnk just copy it from there rather than creating a new shortcut as that shortcut on that pc will always be right (touch wood) just set the policy to always replace existing files wherever youre redirecting your start menu to

or

set gpp to create shortcut to program files (x86) if os =x64 with targetting

That is what my original question was. When i am creating them shortcuts in GP for the start menu they are not appearing in the start menu.

[sted]

That is what my original question was. When i am creating them shortcuts in GP for the start menu they are not appearing in the start menu.

just as a test to they work if you throw them at the desktop instead?

[Ryno]

just as a test to they work if you throw them at the desktop instead?

Yer they work fine.

[jc1875]

Good Morning All,
I would just like a bit of information really. I have just recreated an OU in group policy for staff and students. I am trying to use User Configuration > Preferences > Windows Settings > Shortcuts to create the shortcuts on the start menu so that I can use item targeting. Now I have created all the shortcuts but they don’t seem to be appearing on the start menu. Can anyone please give me some information on this?
Thank You in advance.

Variables in Preference Items

%CommonStartMenuDir% for all users or %StartMenuDir% for current user.

We already use %DesktopDir% is several places (IT helpdesk shortcut, MIS shortcut)

[Ryno]

Right i have decided to set up GPO Desktop x86 GPO Start X86 And also GPO Desktop X64 And GPO Start X64

The desktop one is working great on both 32 bit and 64 bit but the start menu just says empty all the time no matter what i try.

It is working fine on windows xp its just in windows 7 on both 32 bit and 64 bit. When i looked at GP Results its saying that policy is being applied and there is no errors.

[Ryno]

Sorry i have also used a WMI filter to do this.

[Ryno]

Hey all thank you so much for your help. I have now sorted this by setting up two GPO one x86 and one x64. I then set up WMI Filters and then disabled User Config > Policies > Admin Templates > Start Menu > Remove Users folders from the Start Menu. This is now all working fine.